Los Angeles Times

Elliott has created a wonderfully rich battle for propriety in Easy Virtue. The humor might sting, but the pain is worth the pleasure.

Village Voice

Quick! Noël Coward--sage or supercilious bitch? No matter where you stand, Stephan Elliott's deliciously cheeky screen adaptation of one of the satirist's lesser-known jabs at the British upper crust will charm your pants off.

Variety by Todd McCarthy

An effervescent entertainment that marks a welcome return for "Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" director Stephan Elliott after a nine-year absence.

The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt

Jessica Biel has great fun with the American adventuress, while Kristin Scott Thomas is truly scary as her nemesis and mother-in-law.

Village Voice by Ella Taylor

Quick! Noël Coward--sage or supercilious bitch? No matter where you stand, Stephan Elliott's deliciously cheeky screen adaptation of one of the satirist's lesser-known jabs at the British upper crust will charm your pants off.

Los Angeles Times by Betsy Sharkey

Elliott has created a wonderfully rich battle for propriety in Easy Virtue. The humor might sting, but the pain is worth the pleasure.

The New York Times by Stephen Holden

In its cold-eyed assessment of the English aristocracy Easy Virtue has none of the lurking Anglophilia found in Merchant-Ivory movies.

USA Today by Claudia Puig

It's a pleasure to watch such top-notch actors deliver Coward's sparkling wit.

Rolling Stone by Peter Travers

Director Stephan Elliott uncorks a rare vintage of laughs tinged with heartache.

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

Sure, there's a plot, but it's a secondary element to the lines the actors deliver. Only Oscar Wilde has the same bite. Fortunately, Elliott understands this, which makes Easy Virtue go down smoothly.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

The dialogue has an edgy wit, although it has no ambitions to be falling-down funny. Here is the Odd Couple formula applied in a specific time and place that make them feel very odd indeed.

San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle

Gets better as it goes along.

Empire

While its tone occasionally wavers and there are some wobbly performances, this has moments of true lightness, and a welcome sense of whimsy often missing in the costume genre.

New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman

We could all use a little more Noel Coward in our lives. But the fizz falls flat in Stephan Elliot's adaptation of a lesser-known play, which, while blithe enough, has little spirit to speak of.

The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias

Easy Virtue needs a strong center to justify its celebration of American effrontery, and Biel lacks that prideful edge.